Compelled by Love
by BobFrapples49
Summary: #On semi-permanent hiatus.# What happens when Dr. Rush finds another important room aboard Destiny? Set right after 2x2 "Aftermath", branching off into AU.
1. Prelude

**SPOILERS for up to Season 2 Episode 2 "Aftermath"**

A/N: After watching 2x2 "Aftermath", I began to theorize what would happen if Dr. Rush found another important room in the ship's database other than the bridge. In regards to reviews, I would greatly appreciate any feedback from you guys on my writing style. I am fine with you criticizing my form, but please don't "bash" the plot. Just keep that in mind as you read.

Thanks,

BobFrapples49

You can receive updates and previews of this story by following me on my writing blog or fanfiction Twitter account, both of which have links on my profile. Thanks!

DISCLAIMER: Just like the rest of us aspiring writers, I don't own any part of SGU. None. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Zero. You get the point.

_

* * *

Schhhhhhhrink, click. Dink! GRRRRRRRINNN-GKH. Shlump._

The ancient beige door groaned in protest as the lock disengaged and the heavy metal slid open for the first time in millennia. The darkness quickly fading as the overhead lights filled the room with a warm, soft glow. In the new light, Dr. Rush could see the newly revealed space. To the left of the door, there was another room, with an unlocked door. In the center, there were long raised rows that looked suspiciously like benches. Rush took a step forward, entering the mysterious room.

Walking towards the far end of the hall, he spotted a solitary console facing the evenly-spaced rows. As his pace quickened, the console drew nearer. While the terminal was of the usual design, there appeared to be some sort of power shortage to this display. Rush bent down to examine the power junction, and found a disappointing sight. Like several of the older displays aboard Destiny, the power relays for to this junction were fused from the ages without use. Turning away from the broken terminal, Rush walked towards the mysterious unlocked door. Gently pressing the toggle next to the doorframe, he watched as the door slid open with a satisfying _swish._

This new room had better lighting than the first. There were several cubicle-like spaces, complete with a small console in each. A light metal divider separated the booths, with a retractable screen to the left of each cubicle orifice. Upon examination of the first console, Dr. Rush noticed that the power relay was fused in the same way as the one in the auditorium. Walking down the long row, Rush examined terminal after terminal, making his way down the hallway. With seven terminals inoperable, there was only one more to check. Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside the last booth. If this console was nonfunctional, than all the data from this memory bank could be lost. He gently toggled the power mechanism, only to be met with….nothing. The blank black screen reflected his angry face as he stormed out of the hall, then closed the larger door.

Walking back to the Control Interface Room, or "The Apple Core" as Eli had so eloquently dubbed it, Rush collected himself. There were hundreds of rooms that were completely exposed to the vacuum of space. The fact that one set of dead consoles should have no effect on him. But it wasn't the condition of the displays that irked him. It was the contents of that memory bank. He probably could override the locks if he spent the time, but that room was the only direct access point to a mysterious databank.

The room itself was quite a mystery in itself. When he had identified the bridge in the ship's records, it was quite obvious what it was. But this room was different. The auditorium could be roughly translated to "room of give", but he really didn't have any clue what it could idiomatically mean. The hallway with cubicles and consoles wasn't even listed. If he wasn't hiding the discovery of the bridge, he could have used help with translation issues. Maybe he should show Dr. Brody. What about Eli? Dr. Boyd had a degree in linguistics. Maybe she could help. He quickly brushed that off. Dr. Boyd was some religious freak. Who else could he ask? He could bring Dr. Jackson in using the stones, but then Colonel Young would be informed.

His train of thought derailed as he walked into the empty control room. _Where had they all gone? There should be someone here at all times. _Dr. Rush reached for his radio.

"This is Doctor Rush. Who's on duty in the Control Interface Room?"

Colonel Young's annoyed voice answered him. "Rush, get in your quarters."

He bristled at the command, his shields coming up faster than Destiny's ever could. "Excuse me?"

An equally brisk voice answered his. "That is an order, Doctor. We're in quarantine."

"Quarantine?" Rush tightened his grip around his radio, his anger building up every moment. "And exactly why wasn't I informed?"

"If you hadn't wandered off you would have been." The Colonel snapped back. "The radio **does** have a range limit."

Dr. Rush could feel himself ready to explode at the officer, but some little voice in his head kept annoying him. _Don't risk your health over a petty argument. Pick your battles._ He took a deep breath, and turned to walk towards his room.

"Rush? What's your 20?"

Before Dr. Rush could respond, their medic interrupted, sounding very much relieved.

"Don't bother, Colonel. The result came back, and Dr. Volker just has an acute case of food poisoning."

Rush couldn't help but chuckle. It only took something as simple as food poisoning to get everyone scared and put the entire ship on quarantine. It **was** strange that such a random thing would happen. Other than the occasional stomachache from bad food, there was almost never any sickness aboard Destiny. He'd have to ponder that later. Right now, what he needed was help.

Who should he ask? This wasn't the first time that he'd thought about it. Last time, he'd come up with nothing. Well, almost nothing. He still could ask Eli. The young genius might have sided with the Colonel against Rush, but he was the most trustworthy of his options.

As he planned his next investigation of the strange room, a rather amused sounding Colonel Young gave out an "all clear". Finally moving from the same spot in the Control Interface Room, Rush strode down the halls, towards his newest discovery. As he walked, he raised his radio, and called some help.

"Doctor Rush to Eli, come in please."

A few moments later, a sleepy sounding Eli answered. "What's up?"

Picking up his pace, Rush calmly responded to the query. "Please meet me on Deck 5, Sector 28, Corridor 36. I need your help."

After something that sounded like a muffled yawn, Eli gave in to the demand. "I'm on my way. Give me a few minutes."

Rush shook his head. Nothing could entice Eli more than a new discovery except for a good night's rest. He just hoped that Eli didn't sleep for too much longer. There was work to be done.

* * *

A little more than an hour later, Eli showed up at the entrance to the room, and paged inside.

"Hello? Dr. Rush?"

The door opened at Rush's command, and he stepped aside, allowing the young genius an unobstructed view of the auditorium.

Eli only had one word to say. "Wow"


	2. Compelled by Emotion

A/N: Well, you guys are awesome. 132 unique visitors in 5 days from 21 countries! As I promised, here is the second chapter. I hope to have the third chapter posted by next weekend, but I am having a few issues with my dialogue, so I can't make any promises. Anyway, here is the second chapter. I think I'm really starting to love this story! As usual, reviews are better than gold. They're…naquadah…like.

Don't forget to take a look at my writing blog. The link is on my profile.

DISCLAIMER: Same as the first chapter. I still own nothing about SGU.

* * *

"Wow."

Eli stood breathlessly, gaping at the ornate room. Nothing like this had ever been found on Destiny. While still thinking about the new discovery, Rush broke into his thoughts.

"Thank you for finally showing up, Mr. Wallace. I need your help with the console over here."

Eli remained stationary, still racking his brain for answers. What **was** this ornate auditorium doing aboard the utilitarian ship? He finally found his speech to question the older scientist.

"What is this place?"

Rush didn't look back at him, but continued his trek to the lone console at the front of the room.

"I'm not sure. That's why you're here. We need to get one of these displays working."

Eli followed Dr. Rush to the console, and began to examine the workings. They worked for about ten minutes before attempting to restart the console system. The problem was that the power relay had fused, which was a natural mechanism to prevent fire or a short circuit. Bypassing the relay, they managed to regain power to the console. Rush gave the cue to Eli.

"It's unlocked. Try to restart the display."

Eli pushed one of the many buttons to the left of the screen, accessing the vast power grid belonging to the entire ship. The quiet hum of the display came on, but then faded back out. Rush uttered a long string of profanity at the power relay. Eli waited until he came up for air, and then jumped in.

"What happened?"

"Something is wrong with the power grid. This station wasn't intended to last for millions of years." Rush replied bitterly.

Not stopping to confer with Eli, Dr. Rush stood to his feet and went down to the corridor with the booths containing more displays. Eli wordlessly followed, ready to assist the older man. Within an hour, though, both of them were ready to giving up. Out of the six consoles they had fixed, none had been able to power up. It was as though something other than the fused power relay was blocking the display. As they completed the seventh console out of the nine, Rush began to get more nervous. Calling out to his younger assistant, Dr. Rush gave out his instructions.

"It's unlocked. Give it a try, Eli."

Eli gently activated the display. He acted as if he was worried that every reactivated console would explode in his face. With a soft _click_, however, the black screen jumped to blue, with the computer coming online for the first time in millennia, and the younger man's worries not coming to fruition.

"Well?" Dr. Rush asked impatiently from underneath the display.

"Give it a minute to come online. It's still starting up."

A breathless minute later, Eli's face broke into a grin.

"I think we got it!"

* * *

Unfortunately, as soon as they examined the working display, they discovered that the massive database was in an obscure dialect of the Alteran tongue. While Rush tried to decode the information, Eli gave up began to wander the main hall looking for some clue as to what the room was used for. Scientific presentations? Crew meetings? Officer's lounge? The walls held their secrets tightly, and Eli was starting to lose hope. Wandering back down the hall of cubicles, Eli found Dr. Rush looking extremely tired.

"Doctor Rush? Are you OK?" Eli asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine, Eli. This translation is just giving me a headache." Rush answered without looking up.

"Do you want me to get you some aspirin from TJ?"

_NO! _Rush caught himself before he lashed out at the young genius. This time, he looked not only away from the console, but straight into the eyes of his assistant.

"Eli, the reason I brought you here, was because I don't think I can trust anyone else. You need to guard this well. That means that no one, not even TJ, can find out about this."

"But it's just an auditorium. Why would that be a secret?"

Rush's gaze returned to the screen.

"You found something else."

It wasn't an accusation. Eli simply hit the truth like the proverbial nail on the head.

"What was it? Engine controls? Power reserves that could get us home? What?" Eli began to spout guesses in his anger.

"I found the bridge."

The younger man's anger quickly turned to surprise.

"Hold on. You found the bridge and you didn't even tell anyone?"

"Well, I told you, didn't I?" Eli saw Rush's defensive barriers begin to come up.

"Just now. I mean, we might have found a way home. I could have been a huge help…"

"I don't know whether you could have helped me or not," Rush interrupted, "But you're here now, and your not helping."

"Well, yeah. That's because I'm not fluent in ancient Alteran." This time Eli began to raise his shields.

Rush suddenly looked up at Eli and glared with his piercing eyes.

"Then get someone who is," Dr. Rush sneered.

Eli stood there for a moment, then silently turned and strode out the door.

* * *

What should he do? If he told Colonel Young about the auditorium, or the bridge, then he could lose all of Rush's trust. Dr. Jackson could read Alteran fluently. Maybe they could bring him using the stones. The problem was that he needed the Colonel's approval to use the communication devices. There was no way to win.

Then something else crossed his mind. Dr. Boyd. She was a linguist. Maybe she could help with the translation. Of course, Rush was scared that she was some sort of "religious fanatic". He'd just have to get over that.

Walking towards the mess hall, Eli first checked her quarters, to which he received no answer. Unshaken, he continued through the labyrinth of a ship that was Destiny, and into the dining room. Spotting his target near the opposite end of the room, Eli navigated through the maze of people, and over to Trisha Boyd.

She was a brunette, just a few inches shorter than Eli, but almost ten years older. At thirty-three, she was one of the younger surviving members of the Icarus project. Her face seemed to be drawn into something of a permanent smile. She consistently tried to cheer up the depressed occupants of the ancient ship. Unfazed by their brush-offs, she had managed to draw a small group of people together every afternoon in the corner of the mess hall.

Watching Eli approach the table, she stood up and walked over to him.

"Hey, Eli. Come to join the group?"

"Not today. I actually came to get you. Rush needs some help with a translation job." Eli sat down at one of the other tables facing her group.

"Great. Let me finish up and then I'll meet you out in the hall."

* * *

"So, what sort of project is this?" Boyd inquired.

"Rush found some sort of auditorium with a separate data core. He's trying to translate the contents, but the entire thing seems to be in some obscure form of Alteran." Eli tried to explain the situation, feeling inadequate from his lack of description.

"I still can't believe that he actually asked for my help."

Eli's face paled a bit, and he glanced nervously at the floor.

"Oh, no. You didn't tell him I was coming?" Trisha Boyd lost her signature smile.

"He needs the help. I thought that…you know…you might be able to figure it out." Eli tried to justify his actions, eliciting no response from the other scientist. After a few moments, she finally responded.

"I may be able to help, but you know how he feels about me. It's no secret."

Eli toggled the 'open' button to gain access to the auditorium. Instead of the door opening with the usual _screech_, the lock clicked back and forth, as if it was a phonograph, continually skipping back to that annoying loop. Eli reached for his radio.

"Doctor Rush? We're outside the door, but the lock is stuck. Got any suggestions?"

The dead silence of the static filled the metallic corridor.

"Doctor Rush, please respond."

Another long pause followed.

"Dr. Rush!"

After a quick glance at the linguist, Eli changed the channel of the radio.

"Eli to Colonel Young."

"Young here," a tense voice responded.

"Colonel, Dr. Rush is locked in a room on Deck 5. He's not answering his radio."

"I'll send a team. Where on Deck 5 is he?" Eli paused for a moment. Should he give up Rush's secret? A nagging thought in the back of his mind decided for him: _If Dr. Rush is dead, then he wouldn't be able to __**have**__ secrets._ That made up his mind.

"He's in Sector 28, corridor 36. Make sure you TJ comes. I think he's hurt." Eli answered with a tone of worry in his voice.

Returning his radio to the clip on his belt loop, Eli turned back to the linguist next to him.

"I hope that he's alright."


	3. Compelled by Curiosity

A/N: Last chapter, I received the first ever reviews to one of my stories! I would like to take just a minute and respond to the comments.

ladypredator: Thanks for the first review! I assure you that all questions will be answered in time, and your curiosity will be utterly satisfied. As for your comment, you mentioned that Dr. Rush would never trust Eli, because Eli is a gossip. You didn't mention this, but Eli has spied on the entire crew, including Dr. Rush for the colonel. I agree that he is not good at keeping his mouth shut, but Dr. Rush brought him in because he was the most qualified person to assist him. Thanks again for your comment!

Carambar: Thanks for the review! I hope that this chapter will help to satisfy your curiosity.

So, for the rest of you, please let me know what you think. I know that some of you will not like this chapter, but I hope that many of you will. Be sure to follow my twitter/blog for the latest story info!

* * *

The clap of boots against metal echoed through the maze of corridors. Turning the corner, confirming the correct heading, then continuing at a brisk pace down the dimly lit hallway. Rounding one final bend, two worried looking figures came into view. The small company jogged towards the concerned pair, preparing themselves for the horrors behind the large door. Dr. Volker walked over to the lock, panting from the long run. _He still has food poisoning_, Eli recalled. The determined engineer glanced at the problem, tried the automatic control again, then opened his shoulder bag. Pulling out a manual override mechanism, Volker firmly placed the device on the broken lock. To the soldiers and the medic, Volker glanced with questioning eyes at the small company. With a nod from Lieutenant Scott, he touched the only switch on the override.

The soldiers rushed past him and into the auditorium. Seeing no-one in the empty room, they got into formation and stormed into the hallway full of cubicles.

Even from outside the auditorium, Eli and Dr. Boyd could hear Dr. Rush's angry yells while he chastised the soldiers. Within a few seconds, the entire company had joined Eli and Trisha outside, whilst being marshaled out by a single fuming scientist. Eli jumped in to try and restore order.

"Dr. Rush! I was worried when I couldn't reach you." Eli carefully tried to change the subject.

"What do you mean?" The older scientist had taken the bait. Eli decided to proceed with caution.

"You never answered the radio. I called you a couple of times." Eli began to fret that his explanation wouldn't be bought. The tension thickened as he squabbled with Dr. Rush.

"Nothing came through on my end." A long pause followed. Eli glanced at Lt. Scott, then at Dr. Boyd, then at Dr. Rush, then back to Dr. Boyd, and then…

"Well, since Dr. Rush appears to be just fine, we're going to head back." Scott broke the awkward silence and motioned for the company to follow him out.

The rescuers, including one green looking Dr. Volker, turned to go back to the main crew area. Once they had rounded the corner, Dr. Rush turned back to Eli.

"Well, now that everyone onboard knows about this room, maybe I can get some work done." Eli winced at the sarcastic tone in the elder scientist's voice. With Dr. Boyd in tow, they navigated their way down the hall and into the cubicle with the working display.

"Did you have any luck with the translation?" She inquired.

"As a matter of fact, I did. I found something of a language control panel." Rush rattled off.

"Language control?" This time Eli jumped in.

"It seems that Destiny has the ability to display her data in several dialects of the Alteran language. This console was using a modified form of the standard vernacular. When I found the control, I managed to restore the display to standard Alteran. It shouldn't be a problem to translate now."

"Great! How can I help?" Dr. Boyd's chipper nature sprang forth.

"I suppose you can take a portion of the text to translate. Did you bring a laptop?" Rush sounded as if he hoped that she had forgotten.

Eli jogged back out into the hallway, and snatched the borrowed computer. Rush attached the connection to the terminal, and copied one entry from the database. While the transfer took place, Dr. Boyd wandered out into the auditorium, with Eli on her heels.

"You know, if we were on Earth, I'd say that this was some sort of concert hall." Eli put forward his hypothesis.

"A good concert hall would have better acoustics than this." She quipped back.

"Maybe some sort of lecture hall, then."

"Perhaps. Would a lecture hall have rows of private computers, though?" She managed to shoot the bottom out of that idea.

"Well, I'm out of theories. You have any?"

"What if it is some kind of….church?" Dr. Boyd suggested.

"It might be. Would a church have rows of computers, though?"

"Point taken. Gosh, I would have loved to see this when it was full of Alterans."

Dr. Rush came out into the auditorium, holding Dr. Boyd's laptop.

"The data has been transferred. Let me know when you're done." He let her grab the laptop out of his hands before he turned and crossed his arms expectantly.

His assisting linguist strode out with Eli jogging after her. _Who knows what he's up to now_, Dr. Rush thought to himself. He shook his head and returned to the working console.

_Tap. Click, click. T-tap._ The elderly buttons punctuated their use with the soft noises.

Dr. Boyd couldn't do _too _much harm with the translation, could she? He had only given her one databank out of the hundreds available in the separate library computer system. Sitting down to his impossible task, he opened up the first bank listed. Accessing the first section of text, Rush began to translate. Only a moment later, Dr. Rush began to doubt his own translation.

Could it be? Rush rechecked his work. He had only just started with the grueling task when he happened upon something spectacular. No, there could be no doubt about it. The first sentence was brutally clear.

_In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth.

* * *

_

Rush pondered his discovery. How could a piece of first century fiction have made its way into Destiny's database? By the time it was written, the ship would have gone billions, if not trillions of light years away. The Alterans would be long acended. Unless….._Time travel!_ A couple of years ago, SG-1 found an Ancient Puddle Jumper with a time machine installed. Perhaps one of them had retrieved a Bible for posterity.

But why bring back a Bible? Of all the great works of Alteran's descendants, the Bible was hardly easy reading, nor particularly stimulating to the mind. Perhaps that was how the Ancients messed around with us. He was spending too much time around Eli. That humorous thought quickly grew darker as another possibility entered Rush's mind. Could the Ancients have believed an elaborate lie to be the truth?

* * *

Dr. Boyd was similarly stunned. She had been given a database by Dr. Rush, which turned out to contain the writings of several Alterans, apparently philosophers. She had never believed the Ancients to be a religious people, unlike their cousins, the Ori, but her translation made her rethink that belief.

_By this we know the truth. Not only have we witnessed the Sacrifice, and watched the ancient prophecies be fulfilled, but we have seen what is to come. Those who returned from their trek were never the same, but began to show us a way of Love, a way of Truth. The only Truth which was constant. The Truth that is Love, both Truth and Love united in One.._

That was Alteran? It sounded more like a piece of Biblical apologetics to her.

Even after learning of the Stargate, and of the millions of aliens, including a race of false gods, Trisha Boyd never rethought her faith. She knew that her God had an incredible imagination, and loved creating diversity amongst His people, She included all living beings, not just humans, as part of His people. This piece of writing, though, had strengthened her faith more than anything she had read in years. To see that some of the ancient Alteran people had embraced her Lord and Savior, even going so far as to observe his death touched her spirit. Raising a quick prayer of thanks towards heaven, she grabbed her radio to call Dr. Rush.

"Boyd to Rush. Do you copy?"

"Rush here. Are you finished with the translation yet?" Rush's curt voice sounded louder than she had anticipated. She turned the radio volume down, and then returned the call.

"I'm all done. Do you have a few minutes to discuss my findings?"

"I believe that I can spare a little while. Can you find your way back here?" Rush was actually rather polite for, well, Rush.

"I'm sure that I'll be fine. See you in a few minutes." She set her radio down, and closed up her laptop for the trek to the auditorium.

There were still so many questions to be answered. What was a book about the sacrifice of the Christ doing aboard an ancient Alteran ship? What was the auditorium used for? Most importantly, what else had Rush found in the database?


	4. Compelled by Truth

Author's Note: This chapter takes several liberties regarding the Alteran culture. Although these details are integral to the story, they do not represent the official view of the Stargate writers and producers.

IMPORTANT: I need to remind you that this story deviates from the canon timeline just after Season 2 Episode2 "Aftermath." Some of the events from the series may be integrated into this, but it is a different timeline. For instance, we have not reached the seeder ship yet. Also, Dr. Rush has not spent enough time on the bridge for the images of Dr. Franklin or his late wife to appear yet. Anyway, we'll see how this timeline goes, won't we?

ALSO: My writing blog has been updated with even more features for Compelled by Love. Go check it out!

* * *

Dr. Boyd sat down on one of the benches in the auditorium, turning her torso to face Dr. Rush, who was sitting on the bench directly behind hers. Powering up her laptop, she watched Rush, who looked quite shaken.

"Dr. Rush? Are you ill?" Her voice had a worried tone to it.

He wiped his face with his hand.. "I'll recover. What did you find?"

"It looked like you gave me a block filled with theological arguments. The Ancients appear to have worshiped the Christian God." She folded her arms, tilted her head slightly sideways, and waited for the other scientist to respond.

In the long moment of awkward silence that came next, Dr. Rush refused to make eye contact with the linguist, and just stared at the floor. After a moment, he scratched the back of his neck, before finally looking her in the eye. He squinted slightly as he spoke.

"Dr. Boyd, it's not just what I gave you. The entire database is full of religious writings concerning the same topic."

She raised an eyebrow.

"So, is this like some sort of church archive or something?" She tried to make some sense out of the facts.

"Something like that. This auditorium apparently was Destiny's chapel. It seems that many pre-plague Ancients believed in Judeo-Christian God. There are even several large sections of text that are filled with Alteran prophecies regarding their faith. This has to be the biggest discovery about their culture in years."

"It's hard to believe that you would ever respect a culture that was religious," she spoke without seriously considering her words.

"We didn't know much about Alteran culture when we began to respect their technological achievements." Rush pointed out.

"They really have saved our butts more than once. Between the Antarctic outpost, Atlantis, and the Stargate itself, we have learned quite a lot from them."

"Yes, I suppose we have." Rush said. Dr. Boyd noticed that he was staring off into nowhere, and she decided to leave him with his thoughts.

"You know, Dr. Rush, the Ancients haven't been wrong about much before. They could be right about this too."

Not gaining a response from the preoccupied doctor, she quietly slipped out the door.

* * *

"What did you find?" Eli walked up behind Dr. Boyd. He grabbed a bowl, and took his place behind her in line for lunch rations. He looked extremely bored, so she spared no details in her findings or her discussion with the other doctor. When she had told him the whole story, he just stood there and quietly whistled through his teeth.

"That's a pretty long stretch. It's hard to believe that it all could be true." He folded his arms, as if he had already won some great intellectual battle.

Dr. Boyd quietly laughed at his cockiness. "It's all true, Eli. I checked it twice. Dr. Rush must have checked it a few times himself. Plus, it all lines up with something that millions of people believe in."

"Including you," Eli pointed out.

Dr. Boyd let the so-called cook dish her out a small portion of a thick, white, grainy substance. "Yes, including me. I didn't just make this up, though. Dr. Rush found the same thing on his own. I, for one, don't think that he'd fabricate proof of something that he thinks is crazy."

As Eli accepted his own portion of food, he realized that he had to agree with her on at least that last point.

* * *

"What do you think of this whole mess with Dr. Rush?" Mathew Scott looked at Sgt. Greer as they walked down the corridor and continued their patrol.

"I think that he may have finally gone off the deep end. I'd be surprised if he believed in any religious structure while in his right mind. Sir." The lesser-ranking officer quickly tacked on the sign of respect, without averting his gaze from the path leading forward. Lt. Scott watched the troubled soldier continue forward without even showing any sign of emotion. He continued the conversation to relieve the dreadful silence.

"And what do you think about what he found?" Scott jogged forward to catch up with the other soldier.

"I don't know, Sir. I really don't like the whole idea of a God who lets people suffer, but if the Ancients believe it, it's got to have some truth."

Lt. Scott merely tilted his head in understanding, before turning down the next corridor to patrol.

* * *

The door slid open, and Destiny's acting physician walked into the small cabin holding their milky-way prisoners. Varro and Ginn stepped forward, greeting Lt. Johansen.

"What's the word about Dr. Rush?" Varro inquired. TJ gave him a strange look regarding his source of the knowledge, but she kept the question to herself.

"He'll be OK. He's found some sort of religious center onboard." She folded her arms. "Actually, this isn't a social visit. I came to tell you that I'm going to ask the Colonel to release some of you tomorrow. He knows that the two of you have been cooperative, and he might go for it."

"Thank you," Ginn began, but TJ cut her off.

"Don't thank me yet. The Colonel is really worried about what Rush found, and I'm not sure what he'll think about the two of you."

"I'm sure that everything will work out well." Ginn replied. "By the way, if you hear more about what Dr. Rush found, please let us know."

Lt. Johansen gave a nod in agreement, before turning around and exiting the room. The hatch closed loudly behind her, the sound echoing throughout the cavernous room.

* * *

After talking with Destiny's resident linguist, Eli felt more confused than ever. He could easily pin this entire mess on Dr. Boyd's whole "love and forgiveness" doctrine, but that didn't make sense. It wouldn't be pointless to try to prove the truth with a lie. Giving a small sigh of defeat, Eli walked back towards the auditorium where Rush continued to hide out. He had to find out what the older scientist had to say about the whole thing. Rush would be sure to have a strong opinion. Although Eli didn't agree with everything the older scientist said, he knew that Dr. Rush tried to work things for the greater good. That said, however, his same philosophy had also lead to the unfortunate untimely deaths of many people from Icarus. Rush could have easily dialed Earth when the base came under attack, but instead he chose to try to redial Destiny using Eli's suggestions. What a great decision that turned out to be.

As he rounded the turn in the hallway towards the lift, he suddenly went flying backwards as his body collided with the form of another human being. Scrambling back to his feet, he went to help the other victim up.

"Chloe! What are you doing here?"

"Eli! I heard that Dr. Rush had found some weird hall. I was curious to see it anyone had figured out what it was yet." Chloe stood to her feet as she spoke.

"We're still working on it. You know, I was just on my way there myself. Come on, let's go take a look." Eli began to walk with her towards the lift.

* * *

How could it be true? It was just a well-crafted lie, wasn't it? How could the most advanced race known to man have believed this lie?

As he sprawled out on one of the long benches in the auditorium, Rush tried to make sense of the last two days. Ever since he had found this accursed room, he had to rethink what he believed. The people whose technology he had devoted his life to understanding had put their own devotion in a lie that he had pushed to the side his whole life. Spending no time on "religious matters", he had jumped head-first into his work, propelling his home planet into their next technological era. With his discoveries on the Stargate, Earth could now learn unfathomable amounts of information on the ancient Alterans, as well as the vast universe around them.

"It's hard, isn't it?" A glow of light emanated from the row behind him, and Dr. Rush quickly sat up. He shielded his eyes from the intense glare, and the light faded to reveal a familiar figure.

"Gloria?" Dr. Rush breathed.

"This form was chosen because of the respect you still have for your deceased wife. I am not her, however. I am merely a projection by the ship's computer."

Rush's eyes narrowed as he stared at the intruder. "And what was so important that the computer would manifest a projection?"

"Normally, this sort of intervention would never have occurred. However, my programming was overridden to show you what you needed to learn."

"Overridden? By whom? What do I need to learn?" Rush grasped at straws while the projection stared awkwardly at him.

"All your questions will be answered in good time, Dr. Rush. As for what you needed to learn, I was instructed to inform you that you needed to learn the truth."

Rush folded his arms. "Look, I don't want any cryptic Alteran response. Give me some answers. What truth did I need to learn?"

The projection faded away from view, and a voice rang out from behind Dr. Rush.

"You already found what you needed to learn. You just need to accept it." Rush whirled around to see the figure of Dr. Franklin standing in the same posture as the other projection.

"So, you want me to accept that all of this is the result of some great omnipotent being playing around with us?" Rush shouted at the figure.

"That's not what it is, Nicholas." Dr. Rush turned around again, to see the projection of his wife in the same place as before. "You need to understand the love that He has for you. Don't you see that this is all to help you?"

"No, I don't see that. This is just for me to learn some pointless facts about a fictional great being?"

"He's hardly fictional, Nicholas. But yes, most of this was so that you could see what you needed to learn."

"And why here?" Dr. Rush ranted. "Couldn't your god have picked some nice town on Earth for us to learn in?"

The projection paused for a long moment. "Sometimes, Dr. Rush, it takes being thrown across the cosmos to see what was right in front of your face."


	5. Compelled to Awaken :Awakening:

A/N: Important naming feature. When you see a title that has text with a colon on either side, the information inside the two colons is the name of the episode that is rewritten in the chapter. All previous chapters have been placed just before the end of 2x2 "Aftermath", but this one deals with the end of that episode, as well as the next episode 2x3 "Awakening" Thus, the name of this chapter is "Compelled to Awaken", and the full title is "Compelled to Awaken :Awakening:" There. Now that I'm done with the explanation, here is the chapter.

Reviews: I want to thank you all for your kind words. I haven't taken the time to individually respond to all of you, so here it is.

ladypredator: Thank you for reviewing twice! In your first review, you mentioned that Eli was too much of a gossip to be trusted. In hindsight, I realize that you were right, but his introduction was a key point to my story. I guess that's where the AU part comes in! In your second review you mentioned several points, the first of them being about Eli's comments on gating to Destiny. I agree that Eli wouldn't have thought of that off hand, and I personally didn't think of that either. I'll make sure to double check my Stargate franchise physics next time. Also, you mentioned this who series of events being hard on Dr. Rush. I am working quite diligently on identifying with his character (which I do naturally), but I hope that I capture the essence of his character for you all as well. I'll make sure that I'm not too hard on Rush, but keep in mind that carbon plus pressure plus time (plus some other stuff) makes a diamond. I won't destroy who he is, but it takes some pain to become who you will be. I look forward to your reviews in the future.

Carambar: I hope that the following chapters have satisfied your curiosity somewhat. Please continue to read on!

cloudshape to ennien: Well, I knew that I'd lose some people with this story, but I hope that you'll rejoin the plotline. I know that there will be some who will abandon my work due to the content, but I know that there will be some who stay all the way. Thank you for your review anyway.

night animal: I'm glad that you enjoyed my take on things. I think that this series has left some doors open for exploration that were still closed during SG1 and Atlantis, so I'm having a great deal of fun opening them for my readers and myself. Thanks for your comments!

Edwina B. Karch: Don't worry about Dr. Rush. As I mentioned to ladypredator, it takes pressure, time and raw material to make a diamond. Dr. Rush may go through a lot of pressure, but over time, I'm sure that he's heading where he's supposed to. Thanks for your review!

Finally, to my anonymous friend known as "more", I'm glad that you so greatly enjoyed my work. Please continue to follow this story, and thank you so very much for your two reviews!

* * *

"You need to sleep, Nick."

Dr. Rush glanced at the projection of his wife with his fatigued eyes. "If you're going to follow me onto the bridge, you might as well help me with something useful." He sat back into his chair, and rubbed his hands over his tired face.

"Rest will help to open your eyes. Sleep now. I'll help you later." She gave him a small nod, which he wearily returned

"Alright," He gave in. "Just make sure that you follow through with that promise." He sank into his chair, closing his eyes. Just as he was dozing off, a loud beep resounded throughout the bridge, and his eyes shot open. A shiver shook the ship as the FTL engines ceased to fire. Rush leaned forward to examine the data on the screen, squinting at the text. A small look of concern and surprise darted across his face, and he grabbed his radio from its resting place.

"This is Rush. Meet me on the observation deck." He jumped out of his chair, and strode out of the bridge towards the lift.

* * *

Eli walked around the corner, heading towards the viewpoint. He nearly ran into Colonel Young in the hallway, but righted himself before the collision.

"I heard the radio chatter." Eli turned and continued walking.

They entered the room, and saw Boyd, Rush, Brody, and Volker already present.

"What's going on?" Young inquired. He folded his arms on the rail in front of him

"There's an object out there. It's just coming into range." Volker offered. He pointed to the grey object in the distance.

"What is it?" Young grabbed a hold on the bar.

"We don't know yet, but we're about to find out." Dr. Boyd quickly glanced at the military commander before turning back to look at the object in the distance.

All of a sudden, Dr. Volker motioned to Brody, and they hurried out of the observation room towards the Apple Core. As the rest of them waited to come closer to the mysterious object, the IOA official aboard Destiny walked in.

"Do we know what it is?" Wray asked.

Eli leaned forward to talk to her. "Not yet."

Young picked up his radio. "Brody."

Dr. Brody grabbed a radio before running to sit in front of the console. "Colonel."

"Ready weapons." The Colonel sighed as he spoke.

"I don't think that will be necessary." Dr. Rush finally chimed in. Colonel Young turned to look at the scientist, before turning back to watch Destiny draw ever closer to the strange looming object.

"It's a ship!" Wray said in surprise.

"Looks like Destiny," Eli pointed out. "It's got to be of Ancient design."

A voice came through the radio. "Colonel, this is Brody."

Colonel Young picked his radio back up. "Go ahead."

The scientist stared at the sensor data in front of him. "We're not slowing down. We're on a collision course."

The view of the other ship grew larger and larger through the wide windows, and Destiny continued to plod forward. The Colonel moved the radio back to his mouth.

"Ready main weapon," The Colonel ordered. A few seconds later, the large cannon-like energy weapon descended out of the safety bay, and prepared to fire.

"We're going to hit it," Boyd said with a worried tone in her voice.

"No, no. We're not going to hit it." Dr. Rush paused for a minute, studying the path of their approach. "We're going to dock with it."

As he finished speaking, Destiny's forward thrusters came online, and slowed the ship enough for it to gently link up with the Ancient seed ship.

Colonel Young shook his head slowly, then looked at Dr. Rush. "Any more predictions?"

"I suspect that very shortly," Rush began, "You'll be assembling a team to send over there." The scientist turned and walked away, leaving Young to stare out at the two docked ships.

* * *

Colonel Young strode into the already crowded Apple Core. "How did you know that we were going to dock?" he inquired of Dr. Rush.

"I had a hunch," Rush responded simply. "Given the second ship's similar design, the calculated approach, well, I thought it was rather obvious." He looked at everyone in the Control Interface Room for a short moment apiece.

The colonel raised his eyebrow, and then turned and walked over to the holographic display. "So, what's happening?"

Rush likewise turned to look at him. "Destiny's exchanging data with the seed ship."

"One of many traveling well ahead of Destiny," Brody jumped in. "Seeding planets with Stargates, gathering information. This one obviously experienced some sort of system failure, allowing us to catch up with it."

"What kind of data?" The colonel asked.

"Difficult to say at the moment," Dr Boyd offered. "It may take a while to translate."

"Well then," The colonel turned back to face the scientist. "You and Dr. Rush better get started."

Rush shook his head in frustration, then got up and walked out.

"Where are you going?" The colonel enquired.

"I'm going to use the bathroom. Is that OK?" Rush tried to lessen the sarcastic tone to his voice, hoping that his response would minimize suspicion of his actions.

"Hurry back," Came Young's response

While waiting for Dr. Rush to return, Dr. Boyd walked over to the now empty console to begin the daunting task.

* * *

Rush strode angrily onto the bridge, and went to sit at one of the outlying consoles. He switched a few settings, and slowly looked over the specifications of the seed ship. His eye caught an especially fascinating piece of data, and he studied it for a few moments.

"You know what this means, don't you?" The projection of his wife suddenly appeared behind him.

"It means that we may have a way of getting home." Rush stared at specific section of data.

"And you're not going to tell them, are you?" The image stood up straight and began to walk around.

"They should have figured it out by now."

"And if they don't?" She stopped walking, and turned to look at Dr. Rush.

Rush set his notebook on the console, and rubbed his eyes from fatigue. "You know as well as I do that these people need to learn that Destiny's mission may be bigger than just what they want."

"That's a big guess coming from a man who hasn't even found out what her mission was yet."

"It's only a matter of time," He replied. "I've already found the datablock that tells her mission, but it's heavily encrypted. I'll break through soon enough, though."

"And what if it's not worth losing the opportunity to get home?" She looked him straight in the eye.

"I guess that's a risk I'll have to take."

* * *

"We check, we re-checked, and we re-re-checked, but we think…" Eli began, but before he could finish, Dr Rush walked in and finished for him.

"The seed ship has sizable energy reserves."

"How sizable?" Colonel Young enquired.

"Enough to power the gate and get us home." Dr. Rush said flatly.

Colonel Young motioned to the seed ship. "Go."

Dr. Rush hurried back out of the Apple Core without a word.

* * *

Some time later, Dr. Rush let himself sink into the back of the chair. Still panting heavily from the long run to the bridge, he closed his eyes and focused on correct his erratic breathing.

"Why did you do it, Nicholas? Did you do it to save the people, or to save your dream?" The image of his wife stared at him as it spoke.

"Both." He choked out. "If I hadn't done anything, we would have all died from lack of oxygen. That's not a good way to die."

"But you would have saved Colonel Telford," The projection pointed out.

"Which would the so-called god of the Ancients preferred: for me to keep everyone but one person alive, or for one person to be left behind for the good of the crew?"

He sat up to watch the projection respond, but the image was gone. Rush stood suddenly and began to shout as in a fit of madness.

"What do you want from me?" Rush yelled at the empty room, returning to stare at the spot where the projection had previously stood.

"I don't want anything from you, Nicholas. I'm here to _give_ you something, not take from you." The projection faded into view a few feet away.

"Then why don't you tell me how to run the ship. How do I change the countdown clock? Just tell me something, anything!"

"That's not what you need to learn right now." The image gently corrected him. "You have already been taught what you need to learn, yet you refuse to accept it."

"If your riddle refers to becoming the all-obedient servant to a dangerous, advanced being who likes to control the lives of us 'lesser creation', then I'm not interested." Rush let a small amount of the sadness from grieving his wife's death creep into his voice.

"I don't think that you understand. Your wife believed. Dr. Franklin believed. Most of the Alterans believed. Why do you think that they were all wrong?" The projection slowly paced around the bridge, striding for emphasis.

"I didn't say that they were wrong," Rush clarified. "I said that I wasn't interested."

The image suddenly grew more stoic in its expression. "Even though this ship has learned much about the way you humans think, it still doesn't understand why you allow for your emotions to overrule the way you should see the truth. It believes that you illogical humans are quite difficult to understand"

Dr. Rush sighed, dropping his head into his hands. After a few quiet moments, Dr. Rush's muffled voice quietly replied. "Sometimes, I don't understand us illogical humans either."

* * *

"If you could only see what I've seen with my own eyes. I've witnessed the ancient contact with my Creator. I've watched a race of our distant descendants reject the only true love in existence. I watched the sins of their entire race, let alone the sins of all of His creation be washed away as he sacrificed himself for all. If only you could see."

Eli and Chloe stood in front of the Chapel console, watching the recording of the Ancient talk to the Kino.

"I wonder how this Janus guy saw all of this. Have you heard of him before?" Chloe turned to look at Eli, who just shrugged.

"The tape I was given mentioned him building a time machine back in the Milky Way. Maybe he just jumped forward a couple hundred thousand years for the heck of it." He raised an eyebrow for emphasis, causing Chloe to give a quick smile. She almost replied to him, but the recording of the Ancient began to continue speaking.

"I don't know if anyone will ever even watch this recording. I was instructed to record this for the benefit of the people that will arrive on Destiny millions of rotations from now. I was granted a fluency of this strange language to make this recording, so it must be important. I know that the Mighty One has a reason for me recording this message, so I hope and pray that you will believe my words. If any among you don't know True Love, then please don't rest until you find Him."

The channel cut off, leaving the two of them silently in the large hall.


	6. Compelled by Confusion

Author's Note: Hey everyone. Sorry to take so long with this update. I dropped and broke my external drive with most of my writing on it, and I'm still trying to sort this all out. I really appreciate both your patience and your faithful reading. Despite the sad cancellation of SGU, I am still planning to finish out this story, using many of the second season storylines as a guide, but I will be avoiding most of the shown scenes to minimize infringement. I hope that you'll stick through this with me, 'cause we've got an awesome ride ahead!

Happy New Year to All!

~BobFrapples49~

* * *

"Eli to Dr. Boyd." The radio crackled to life as the linguist's radio broadcast its message from its resting place on the bedside table. The figure lying on the bed rolled over, and yawned before picking the radio up.

"This is Dr. Boyd. What can I do for you Eli?" The sleepy polyglot dropped her hand after replying.

"Can you come over to the chapel for a few minutes? Chloe and I have just found something that's pretty cool."

As she swung her legs over the side of the bed, she realized that she wasn't going to get any more sleep that night. She raised the radio to mouth.

"Have you called Dr. Rush yet? He should be there for any major discoveries." She stood to her feet, and began to straighten out her clothing.

"We decided to show it to you first. He might not appreciate it as much."

She puzzled over what the cryptic statement meant, before just giving up, hurriedly tying her shoes, and strolling out towards the auditorium.

"So, what did you find?" Dr. Boyd strode over to the pair who were still standing in front of the one working console. They turned to look at her, and Chloe looked at Eli, who remained silent. After several long seconds of awkward nothingness, Chloe elbowed Eli, making him leap backwards and cover his wound.

"Hey, what was that for?" Eli called from his safe distance.

"Why don't you just tell her already, Eli? You're the one that wanted to call her." Chloe folded her arms, prompting Eli to throw up his hands in frustration.

"Why don't _you_ tell her? You asked me what I thought about calling her, and I called her when you asked me to." Eli stepped forward dramatically to emphasize his point. Dr. Boyd pinched the bridge of her nose, and waved at them to give her silence.

"Ladies, ladies. Someone just tell me why you woke me up." Dr. Boyd rubbed her face in frustration, and then returned her gaze to the pair. Eli looked bashful for a moment, before recovering, taking a quick glance at Chloe, then finally redirected his stare over to the bewildered linguist.

"We found a video," Eli began, "A recording of an Ancient."

Dr. Boyd yawned. "That's nice, Eli. Did you want me to translate some fringe dialect in the middle of the night? I usually work better once I've slept."

Eli shook his head. "No, no, not at all. Actually, the video was in English."

"Wait, how would an Ancient know English?" Dr. Boyd's eyes opened a little more as she spoke.

Eli shrugged briefly before continuing. "That's one of the interesting things. The other interesting thing is that the person speaking, Janus, claimed that he was told to make this recording for the people that would arrive millions of years from that date. Those people had to be us!"

"That's all very interesting." Trisha Boyd nodded, her eyebrows raised in emphasis.

"That's not all, though." Eli's voice now had a breathless quality to it. " The Ancient was talking about using a time machine to go into their future, our past. Apparently, he was one of the later spiritual leaders of the Ancients, because he could list a bunch of their old prophecies, and he explained how they were fulfilled in your whole god-thing."

Dr. Boyd was now listening attentively. "Can you play me the recording?"

Eli walked over to the working console. "Sure. I was curious about something though." He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Why would an Ancient, a member of the smartest race that we know of, put his trust in something that happened millions of years later? I mean, I don't understand why anyone from our own race would do that, let alone some crazy smart person."

Dr. Boyd gave a small grin as she teased him. "Are you trying to say something about my intelligence?"

"No, no. Maybe I said that wrong." Eli turned a light shade of pink, before making a poor attempt at regaining his composure.

Trisha cut him off before he could dig any deeper beneath his feet. "I understand, Eli. It doesn't make sense to a lot of people. It does make sense, however, to some people that are _really_ crazy smart. I mean, scientists on Earth, some big name philosophers, and apparently the smartest race that ever lived in our galaxy. You've got to admit, that's a pretty long list."

While Eli mulled over her words, he pulled up the video clip for the linguist. The room was immediately filled with the audio of a man speaking broken English.

"_Hello. My name is Janus. I was told by my Savior to make this recording to explain why I believe. I hope that you will listen to what I have to say. Almost ten rotations ago…"_

_

* * *

_

Mathew Scott took a long gulp of water before trying to finish the serving of nondescript mush. "Did I ever tell you that I was going to be a priest?" He looked up at the soldier across from him at the table in the mess.

"Yes, sir. You did." Ronald Greer scooped up a spoonful of the glop, before setting it back in the bowl in disgust.

"You don't have to call me sir, Greer. We _are _off-duty." Scott corrected his friend.

"I know. You keep telling me. Sir." Greer attempted to take a bite of the mixture, but quickly deposited it back in the bowl. "It's pretty bad today."

Scott silently agreed, but kept his opinion to himself. Greer, taking the silence as a cue to pick up on Scott's suggestion of topic, brought the issue up himself this time.

"You were going to be a priest, huh? A real white-collar worker, that's for sure."

Scott grinned and rolled his eyes at his friend's poor attempt at humor before becoming much more somber. "I was. Then I knocked-up some poor girl I met one time. That pretty well turned me off to the priesthood."

Greer gave a snort of understanding, knowing the dangerous territory he was treading on. Instead of expecting a response, though, Scott continued on.

"I joined the Air Force, wound up on some forsaken planet on the other side of the galaxy. What a great plan that turned out to be." He paused to take another large gulp of the water. "You know, sometimes I wish that I had known about my son. He never knew his father."

"I'm sure that you would have been great, Sir." Greer nodded in affirmation.

Scott ignored the gesture. "Yeah. Would have. As in past tense. It's too late now. Matt's already nearly ten years old. It's a little late for me to come swooping in to save the day."

"Maybe you don't need to swoop, Sir. Maybe you just need to face your mistakes and move forward." Greer offered his two cents.

Scott nodded in agreement. "Maybe so. I guess it's time to move on"

* * *

"You know, the Ancients never intended for one person to run this ship alone."

Dr. Rush turned to look at the projection of his late wife. "You know, you could help me instead of just wasting my time."

The projection smiled slightly. "I could, but it's time that you learned how to fend for yourself. If you won't except help from your friends, you aren't ready to learn Destiny's secrets."

Dr. Rush folded his arms. "My decryption program has almost finished the data about Destiny's mission. It won't be long before I understand what's going on."

"What then, Nicholas? You need help to complete the mission. You could tell Colonel Young…" The projection offered, but Dr. Rush stopped the conversation.

"No one is telling Colonel Young about this. I can't trust him to put Destiny's mission ahead of the comfort of the crew." Dr. Rush turned back to the console, effectively cutting off the conversation. The projection wasn't finished, though.

"What about Sergeant Riley? He died because you didn't understand Destiny's systems in time to give a warning. Even Colonel Telford was left behind because of your stubbornness." The projection walked over so that Rush could see it out of the side of his eye. He looked up at his intruder.

"Even if I did understand all of Destiny's systems, I still couldn't have saved Riley. We needed food, and there was no other option but to go to the planet." Rush argued his side.

"But you still abandoned Colonel Telford. If you had understood the systems better, you could have completed the power transfer to Destiny. You could have gotten everyone home."

"Just because I don't know what Destiny's mission is yet doesn't mean that I have to give up. The Ancients would have never built a ship to last a million plus years unless they intended it for a larger purpose." Rush turned back, and ignored the protests of the projection, simply focusing on his work.

* * *

"You know, it feels kind of good," Eli beamed at Dr. Boyd. "I feel more alive than before."

She grinned at him. "Finding a reason to go on can do that to a person."

"Tell me," Eli began, "When did you start to think about all of this?

Trisha Boyd tapped her chin thoughtfully. "It was a long time ago, that's for sure. No one in my family was particularly religious, so I guess it must have been in college. My roommate during that last part of my senior year in college invited me to her group, and I started thinking about the whole thing. It made sense when you thought about it. If you really think about it, we have never learned anything that invalidates it. In fact, we just discovered the greatest argument for it that may ever be found."

Eli nodded his head. "I guess that there was one good thing about coming here after all. If I had just stayed on Earth, I might never have believed in all of this. I still can't believe that I chose to go along with it."

"It won't be easy," Dr. Boyd warned. "I have gone through many a hard time trying to retain the truth. I know that most of the people on this ship will discourage you from believing."

"It probably will be hard," Eli admitted, "But I know I did the right thing."

As they finished talking, Dr. Rush walked through the open door to the hallway. "Congratulations, Eli. You just bought into the biggest power scheme that has ever existed."


End file.
